Life on Earth
by Paradoxicality
Summary: The year 3156. A dead planet and a forgotten race. But all is not right. The timeline is changing and the nanobytes are attacking, and Amy and the Doctor must survive in a time that should not exist.  Part 1 of 2
1. Chapter 1

"Doctor, where have you parked us?" Amy said, sticking a head out of the TARDIS. They seemed to be in a small, metallic room, heavy steel pipes lining the walls and rust creeping in at the edges.

"Oh, I dunno, some space ship, anywhere between the 30th and 50th century, haven't a clue where it's going though," He hopped out and stumbled slightly, unaware, once again, of his own body. "Let's go find out."

Amy casually followed him through a doorway on one side of the room. It led into an equally metallic hallway, until they eventually entered a small, white laboratory. Its walls were lined with test tubes and beakers sealed inside heavy glass cabinets, and there were several silver work benches in the middle. A small plump man, in his early sixties, with balding grey hair and thick rimmed glasses looked up from his notes when the Doctor and Amy entered the room.

"How did...oh never mind," He got up from his chair, muttering to himself. "Journalists, I presume? You people get everywhere. Come along." He said, heading out another door. The Doctor and Amy looked at each other briefly before following behind.

"The Captain's holding a talk in the control room. You're supposed to be in there, not snooping around the lower deck." He sighed heavily.

"And, uh, what's the talk on again? Reporting skills are a little lacking." Amy asked, peering down at the small man.

He stopped and looked at her in a confused manner. "On the expedition girl, what else would it be on?"

Amy nodded in fake realisation.

They entered many corridors, took an elevator up several floors, and eventually walked through to a large control room. Thousands of flashing, beeping buttons lined control panels all around the room, and a lengthy window lay just above them, looking out to the empty space outside. A tall man, in his early thirties Amy guessed, was stood in front of the window, facing around thirty people of various alien races. He was wearing an all-white suit, with no trace of colour, and a navy beanie hat, akin to a sailor's. His face was unshaven, which seemed unusual both given his role and this formal presentation to a large group of people. His hands were shaking slightly, and his voice seemed to waver every now and then. Amy and the Doctor stood at the back of the room, and the man who had brought them trundled back down the corridors.

"...and this has been my life's dream to take captaincy of a mission such as this." They caught, as the man paused to compose himself once again.

"It has been a long and tiring journey for as all, but I thank you for sticking with us because, as I'm sure you're all aware, the wait will be worth it." There was a mild muttering in the room. The Doctor looked at Amy and mouthed "Ooh."

"Now, if you'd like to all gather around the window." The man turned around and the group of people shuffled forward into more of a horizontal line.

The Doctor and Amy stood on tip toes behind them, and could make out the faint image of a large, baron planet ahead. It seemed muddy and desolate even from where they were standing.

"As you can see we have almost reached our destination. This will mark a historic mission, one that will explain if there is still life on Earth."


	2. Chapter 2

"Still?" Amy half-shouted, taking herself by surprise. The group of people turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry?" The Captain said, looking around himself for assistance.

"I mean, what do you mean 'still'? There's always life on Earth, right Doctor?" Amy said, slightly changing her questioning from the Captain towards the Doctor.

"Judging by the ship this is somewhere in the 32nd century. And there definitely was life then at least." The Doctor replied under his breath, staring out to the baron planet ahead in slight confusion.

"Um, surely you know life signals stopped coming from the Earth around 1000 years ago. That's the whole point of this expedition."

"So we're going to Earth because..."

"Because our scientists picked up on a transmission. And if we're able to get close enough, hopefully we can decipher the message and work out what happened to kill off the Earthians."

"The what?" Amy said, looking at the Doctor for support.

"I'm sorry, who are you two?" The Captain asked. Everyone was staring at the Doctor and Amy now, amazed by these two bumbling idiots.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is my research partner Amy. We came from...far away to learn more about this planet. Our knowledge isn't too great, as you can tell." The Doctor quipped. Amy gave him a stern stare.

"Uh, right, well I'd be happy to have some of my crew fill you in some more on the history of Earth. We have an abundance of information, from the climate of the planet to what the Earthians' culture was like."

"It's 'humans'." Amy said under her breath. The Doctor shook his head at her. She took it to mean she was to play along.

"That'd be great. Especially for my partner, she's uh..." The Doctor trailed off purposely. The Captain gave a knowing nod. Amy's anger rose.

"Not a problem sir. In fact, I think I'm just about done with my speech. If you'd all like to return to your quarters, dinner will be served in a few hours."

The room quickly emptied, and Amy admired the mix of strange, new aliens as everyone made their way out.

"Doctor what is going on?" Amy asked, taking the Doctor to the side.

"I'm not quite sure. Clearly something has changed in Earth's history, something very bad. But you're still here, so it can't be terminal."

"Yes but they're talking about it like its some forgotten relic. Are you sure this isn't supposed to happen?"

"No, no course not. I guess we should ask the Captain for some lessons on Earth."

The Doctor made his way over to the Captain, who was stood staring out to the bleak planet ahead.

"It's a weird dream to have, to explore some long forgotten planet," He said, his voice much more calm now. "But I've always wanted to since I was a child. There's something so mystical about this place, about its people. It's a shame no one really knows what happened. Hopefully we can change that."

"It is a wondrous planet." The Doctor mused. They both stood staring at it for a while, each with conflicting reasons for loving the floating mass of rock.

"So, you wanted some information about the planet?" The Captain finally said, turning to the Doctor.

"Yes, if you could."

"Well, there's James, he's an engineer. His fascination with Earth reaches far beyond my own. And Professor Gordon down in the labs; in fact I think he was the one with you two earlier. I'll send out a message to the both of them to keep an eye out for you, they'll be happy to fill you in."

"Thank you Captain," Amy said, as her and the Doctor wandered out of the room. "Aye aye, and all that." She said, saluting as she did so. The Captain stared at her in utter confusion. _It's gonna be a long trip_, he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Amy stared vacantly into the distance as they left the control room and headed down a corridor. The Doctor could tell she was on edge. He, himself, was too, but for different reasons. Something wasn't sitting right with him. Time didn't feel like it was flowing in the right direction. They'd stumbled into an anomaly.

"Excuse me! Wait a second!" Came a voice from behind. They both turned around to see a fairly young man dressed in all white running up to them. He was as unshaven as the Captain, and had a thin pair of glasses on. His curly blonde hair emerged from his head in all directions, and bounced as he jogged toward them.

"Sorry," He said when he had caught up, out of breath slightly. "I'm James Turner, I just got a message through from the Captain saying you had requested to speak to me." He straightened his clothes and stood up rigidly.

"Well, it was no rush really; we just wanted to know more about Earth. The Captain said you had a vast knowledge of the planet." The Doctor commented.

"Oh yeah. I love that ball of rock." He said with a smile on his face. He stuck out an arm to suggest they continue down the corridor.

"I've been studying it since I was a child, when my grandfather used to talk about it. He spoke about this amazing lost planet, thriving with life and culture."

Amy couldn't help but smile.

"Do you have any idea when it was destroyed?" The Doctor asked "I gather no one knows how."

"Scientists believe it was around the 2090s. See, this is the interesting part; Earth was home to a range of aliens and creatures from across the galaxy, but no memory survives of its last days. Many people have tried tracing the species that once lived there, but no one knows for sure what happened."

The Doctor looked off in thought.

"So no humans survived?" Amy asked.

"I'm sorry? Hu...hu-mons?" James asked in confusion.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Earthians, then." She said reluctantly.

"Uh, no, none at all. At least as far as we know."

"And where are you from?" She asked.

"Me and the Captain and most of the crew are from 6-K, in the Costella constellation. How about you two?"

The Doctor and Amy both looked at each other, both unsure how to speak of their lost planets. For once, Amy knew how the Doctor felt.

"We're just travellers, really. No place to call home, except for my little ship." The Doctor said at last. Amy looked down in slight sadness at the thought.

"Ah. And naturally you don't have the nuclear dampeners on your ship."

"The uh.." Amy half-asked.

"To protect from the radiation." James said. "Get too close to the planet and you'll fry up no matter how thick your ship's hull is. That's why it's taken us so long to research the right material to use. I guess the Professor is more your guy if you want to find out about that sort of stuff."

The Doctor seemed to be mentally noting this all down. Amy remained confused and shell shocked.

Eventually they came to a natural stop. Amy and the Doctor were both staring off to the distance and James wasn't overly sure what to say.

"Um, I can show you to him if you want..." He tried.

"It's OK, he's down here, to the right, use the elevator, down two floors, along the corridor, left, then right then right again then second door on your left." The Doctor said off the top of his head, still half daydreaming.

"OK then." James stood bemused for a second before quietly leaving the two to it.

"Doctor." Amy said, a weird mix of grief and confusion in her voice. He didn't respond, his eyes still looking upwards and his face vacant.

"Doctor!" She said again, this time jabbing him in the side.

"Ouch, alright, I was just getting a sense of things. Something weird's going on."

"Oh, really you think? Cus' I remember you telling me about how Earth was destroyed in the 2090s and no one knew how." Amy said sarcastically. The Doctor sighed.

"I mean, time wise, it's hard to explain. This isn't just a major shift in the timeline, something else is wrong."

"And what would that be?" 

"That's what I'm trying to work out."

"You're a lord of time, shouldn't you know this off by heart."

The Doctor gave her a dissatisfied look.

"Alright, whatever. Maybe we should go see the Professor, you two can gabble on about science stuff." Amy suggested. The Doctor's ears pricked up.

They strolled off along the Doctor's memorised path. The Doctor picked up on Amy's silence.

"You doing OK?" He asked.

"I dunno," She shrugged and rubbed her arm for comfort. "It's weird, you know. I doubt I'll even be alive by then, but it's still my home. It kinda feels like a gaping hole without it there."

The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement, knowing full well how she felt.

"Let's go get your planet back, Pond."


	4. Chapter 4

The Professor muttered under his breath as Amy and the Doctor entered his laboratory once more. They stood by the door for a while before the Doctor decided to introduce himself properly.

"Professor Gordon," He put out a hand and paused, but the Professor didn't look up from his work. "I'm the Doctor and this is Amy; we were told to come visit you, to ask more about Earth."

"I don't do interviews, thank you." He said, without looking at either of them.

"We're not journalists." Amy clarified. "We're just travellers. Or, uh, archaeologists?" Amy hazarded, attempting to get his attention. It worked.

"Of what field?"

"...Time? And space and...old planets and stuff." Amy said, looking off distantly and twiddling her hair.

"Interesting," He seemed to buy her limited job description. "I suppose I can spare a few minutes."

He beckoned for them to take seats opposite him on the workbench.

"What are you working on at the minute?" The Doctor asked, his eyes jumping around the strange mass of wires connected to a box that the Professor was handling.

"It's my signal amplifier, specifically tuned to the natural radio waves emitted by the Earth. It's taken me years to perfect, and it's still not right. I'm hoping the closer we get to the planet, the more clear the signal will become but..."

"The, uh, transmodifier has fallen out of the battery pack there." The Doctor said, pointing to a loose red wire. The Professor looked at him in confusion. He went to speak before shaking his head and connecting it back up.

"Know a thing or two about electronics then?" The Professor asked.

"A hobby, nothing more."

Amy gave him a confused stare. Modesty was not becoming of the Doctor.

"Well lad, maybe one day, when you're a bit older, you'll be on your own spaceship, tinkering with electronics. Got a few years before you get to my age though."

Amy and the Doctor both looked at each other, amused by the massive amounts of irony.

"How strong is the signal now, can we have a listen?" Amy asked.

"If you really want to. It's not much different from the one you heard on all the news channels a few years back really."

The Professor flicked a few switches and the metallic box at the centre of the wires became lined with multicoloured flashing lights. He set the piece down and sat back in his chair slightly. The Doctor and Amy intently listened, as a loud muddle of noise sounded out from the device. It was little more than static, with what sounded like a few instances of muffled speech. Disturbingly, it ended with a scream; the clearest thing about it.

Amy seemed slightly taken aback, and the Doctor stared at the device intently.

"Hopefully, given a few hours, it'll become clear enough to hear what happened. I just hope whatever the message is, it's worth this godforsaken trip." The Professor began muttering under his breath as he tinkered with the device some more. The Amy and Doctor took this to mean their time with the mad genius was over. They quietly left the room.

"Did you hear anything?" Amy asked eagerly.

"Nothing more than you, no doubt. But why would an advanced race such as humans, with the capability to travel to distant planets, bother sending out an SOS?" The Doctor asked, mainly rhetorically. They passed by a young cabin boy, no older than Amy, who entered the Professor's lab.

"A package came for you, Professor." He said, holding a metallic container no bigger than a shoe box in front of himself.

"What?" The Professor looked around. "Who bothered to send out an intergalactic passage half way across the universe? I'll be back in a few days, the idiots," He spun back around and continued tinkering. "Just set it down over there."

He didn't really indicate where 'over there' was, so the cabin boy placed it on the nearest counter.

"Open it up, now there's a good boy." The Professor ordered.

The box was sealed by several clasps, and seemed to be vacuum packed around the edges. With the last clasp removed, the cabin boy opened the lid and looked inside the silver box. There was a small piece of folded paper inside.

"There's just a note, sir."

"Well read it out then."

The cabin boy unfolded the paper and read it to himself before tentatively reading it aloud.

_You forgot your 'just desserts'!_

_Signed, _

_Cynthia xx_

The Professor seemed to stiffen slightly. He turned around and looked the cabin boy straight on.

"And what's in there?" He said, far less brashly.

"Nothing sir. Just this note." The cabin boy said, checking again, unfortunately unaware of the thousands of microscopic nanobytes fleeing their sealed home and heading towards the first piece of metal they could find.


	5. Chapter 5

Glaring red lights echoed around the metal hallway the Doctor and Amy were walking down. They turned around to see what was happening, as a deafening alarm played out from the speakers on the walls. Moments later, the Captain, James the engineer, and a young looking girl ran down the corridor towards the Amy and Doctor.

"What's going on?" The Doctor yelled over the noise.

"Emergency in the laboratory. Don't worry, everything should be OK, please just return to your quarters." The Captain yelled back, his voice laden once more with anxiety.

The Doctor and Amy chose to ignore his advice, and instead followed behind the small group. They all came to a stop outside the laboratory, as the Professor and the cabin boy emerged, a strange gas billowing out before the door shut tightly behind them. The Professor coughed into his handkerchief, and the cabin boy bent down to catch his breath.

""What's happening?" The Captain asked, his words slurring together slightly with the pace at which he talked.

"Nanobytes, that's what." The Professor said, his face cold and stern.

"Nanobytes? They were outlawed twenty odd years ago." The young girl said, looking at the Captain in confusion.

"Don't be so naive, girl. You can get as many as you like on the black market, if you know the right dealers." The Professor barked. The girl looked down in embarrassment.

"Then how did they get onboard?" The Captain asked.

The Professor looked across to the cabin boy aggressively, who immediately raised his hands in defence.

"I didn't know they were in there. I was just delivering a package."

"We should have systems for checking these things. We can't have untrained idiots like this delivering any old thing." The Professor moaned. A small argument broke out between him, the cabin boy and the Captain.

"Doctor, what are nanobytes?" Amy asked quietly.

"Bad news." The Doctor responded. He immediately stepped forward to take control of the situation. "OK, can we all just calm down. Now Professor, I'm presuming that gas is-"

"Empesium, yes. It should disable most of the critters in there."

"Great. James, I want you to make sure all entrances to the lab are tightly sealed with anything but metal; plastic, putty, whatever you've got, just make the room airtight."

"OK." James said, running back to his station to collect tools.

"Now...sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Cassie." The young girl said.

"Right, Cassie, go keep the people on board calm; make sure they know there's nothing to be concerned about, especially the journalists." The Doctor said, pointing back towards the main deck. Cassie nodded and walked swiftly away.

"OK. Captain, we need to be aware that even though a lot of the nanobytes will have been disabled by the gas, some may have escaped. Keep your crew on full alert and engineers on hand to fix anything that gets destroyed. Those things can eat through metal better than any acid."

"Certainly. Have you two been decontaminated?" The Captain asked the Professor and cabin boy. The Professor nodded immediately. The cabin boy did not. The Captain looked across to the Doctor, his face morose.

"Get him decontaminated now." The Doctor said with a strong voice. The Captain immediately led the cabin boy down the corridor and to the left, forcefully shoving him through a door.

"I've still got the receiver, at least," The Professor said, holding up the flashing box in his hand. "She can't take that from me."

"Who can't?" Amy asked, immediately picking up on his slip. The Professor glared at her, before shuffling off, coughing into his handkerchief some more.

Amy and the Doctor stood staring at the window to the laboratory, watching the billowing wisps of white gas drift around the room.

"Nanobytes are small electronic mutations. They're the equivalent of termites; they'll eat through anything remotely metal or electronic until there's nothing left," The Doctor turned to Amy and looked directly in her eyes. "And on a ship made entirely of metal, that's not a good thing."


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver aloft in midair, staring at it curiously, his head bobbing around it like a moth around the glow of light. Amy stared at him, before asking "What are you doing now?"

"Trying to bounce a magnetic pulse off of any nearby nanobytes. It should tell me where they are, or, even better, disable them altogether." He fiddled with the controls and held the screwdriver slightly higher.

Amy sighed and scraped her trainers along the corrugated metal flooring. "Shall I go find something to do then?"

"Yeah, sure. Go help James or something." The Doctor said, not really paying her any attention. Amy rolled her eyes and followed where James had gone, to the other side of the laboratory.

She found him sat against the back wall, next to the door. He had started filling the gap between the door and the wall with putty, but was now slightly curled up, biting his thumbnail in an agitated manner.

"Everything OK?" Amy asked, bending down next to him. James looked across and nodded slightly.

"Yea it's just uh...it's nothing, I better get on." He said, turning himself around and applying more putty.

"Need some help?" Amy said, crawling across to his toolbox. James realised she wasn't necessarily offering help, more a set of ears to talk to.

She handed him a cloth to wipe the door down and pushed the hair from her eyes. "It's the nanobytes isn't it?" Amy wagered. James nodded without looking at her.

"It's a long story. You could say me and these beasties have an extensive history."

"Hit me with it." Amy replied.

James stopped for a minute before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I'm originally from Doridia." James seemed to pause in expectation of a response from Amy. "You don't remember it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really not from anywhere near here," She thought for a minute. "Kind of."

"Back when I was a child, I think when I was around three, there was a massive outbreak of nanobytes. They invaded the planet, took down the whole infrastructure, destroyed buildings and towns; wiped out the whole planet. I managed to get on one of the rescue ships with my mum and came to 6-K. Lived there ever since. I regard it as my home but..."

"You still feel some connection to Doridia," Amy finished. James nodded.

"Why has the Captain got you doing this then? Surely it's a bit of an open wound."

"He doesn't know; I'd prefer it if you kept this between me and you."

Amy was slightly bewildered, but nodded to placate him. She thought for a moment, before saying "I think I've lost my planet too."

"You think?" James looked down at her in confusion.

"It's a long story. Very, very confusing but...it's at least made me realise I'll lose it someday. If not now, then at some point, however many years in the future, it'll be lost forever. No more life, no more people like me- the same kind of life form as me, that's...a scary thought." Amy looked away, her eyes slightly clouding with tears.

"There are no definites in the universe Amy. My planet got unlucky, who's to say your planet won't last forever? If everyone from where you're from is anything like you, it deserves to stick around." James said with a smile. Amy looked up and smiled back.

James continued filling the door. Amy looked down to pick up the cloth when she noticed a dark patch in the floor. Only it wasn't a dark patch; it was a hole. A rapidly increasing hole, spreading out from the base of the door towards where they were knelt down.

"James." She tugged on his jacket and pointed. He immediately jumped up and moved backwards. Amy followed suit. "Doctor!" She yelled, looking in both directions.

A few moments later the Doctor came running down the corridor, sonic still aloft and pulsating rapidly.

"Ah, found some then." He said, kneeling down next to the hole. The hole was approximately the width of the doorway by now, and revealed metal pipes underneath. It was, however, not expanding as rapidly as before.

"You see," The Doctor said, pointing his sonic at the edges. "They die out after a little while. Once they've had their fill, of course." He flicked his sonic screwdriver on and the hole stopped increasing in size, just in time, it turned out, as another hole emerged in one of the pipes below, allowing a stream of hot gas to spurt upwards.

"Think you can sort that?" The Doctor asked James.

"Yeah, yeah I think so." James replied, edging past the hole towards his toolbox.

"Is that the last of them then?" Amy asked.

"Na. That was four out of about a thousand that were originally released."

"Four? Four of those things can create a hole that big in minutes?" Amy asked in utter shock. The Doctor nodded solemnly.

Stuck on a ship that could be devoured right underneath them at any moment, above a dead planet she once called home; Amy Pond suddenly felt very cold and very alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Amy and the Doctor left James to repair the pipe, and continued back down the corridor. Amy was silent, rubbing her arm gently. The Doctor looked at her for a while, unsure what to do. They spotted the Professor emerging from the decontamination chamber just ahead, still clutching his receiver.

"All sorted?" The Doctor asked.

The Professor rolled his eyes. "Useless child. He nearly took down the whole ship. That hopefully got the last of them though."

"Yes, well I wouldn't be too sure. Nanobytes are mutations, constantly evolving; four of them came out from your laboratory and ate through the floor." The Doctor pointed back to the hole James was now repairing. The Professor looked over and grumbled.

"Well this whole thing was to prevent us from succeeding on this mission. As long as I have this," He clutched the device tightly. "We should be fine." The Professor walked past them and through another door that led to yet another corridor.

"Professor, before you said 'she'- as in _she_ couldn't take it from you. Who were you talking about?" Amy asked, following close behind.

The Professor didn't turn around, merely fiddling with the device as he picked up his shuffling pace.

"Slip of the tongue. I meant nothing by it." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Professor." The Doctor said, suggesting the Professor was wise to answer Amy's question truthfully.

The old man thought for a moment before pressing a keypad on the side of a wall and beckoning the two into a small, cupboard sized laboratory. He placed the device on the desk and sat down.

"It was my wife. We've worked together for years; she's a true genius, much like myself. But..." The Professor looked down in a rare moment of shame. "I wanted this experience so much. But just for me. I wanted the pride; you know how much it would mean to discover life on that damned planet. Or at least solve the mystery of what happened to it."

"You shafted her to take the glory for yourself?" Amy asked, a twinge of anger in her voice.

"I invented the thing!" The Professor raged. "But I knew that if she came along and we found something, she'd be the face they used; great Ballidino prize winner strikes again." The Professor said wistfully.

"The Ballidino prize?" The Doctor seemed in genuine shock and awe. "That's...that's something special." He said, nodding to both Amy and the Professor.

"You see? One mention of the damned thing and the elderly bald guy gets forgotten about."

"That's still no reason to send you something that could wipe-out a spaceship of people." Amy said slightly sympathetically.

"No, well, I'm sure she was expecting I'd open it, the nanobytes would destroy my device, I'd decontaminate the lab and that'd be that. I should have guessed; she was the one that suggested I get the Empesium gas installed in the first place." He twisted a few of the wires aimlessly.

"Well, you know what you're going to do when you get back? You're going to apologise; then she'll apologise. And you two idiotic geniuses can grow old together." The Doctor said, a smirk on his face.

For the first time since they'd met, the Professor let out a laugh. Amy was slightly taken aback.

"Yes, yes." He said, placing a pair of headphones over his small ears. He looked out to the distance as he listened. His face dropped.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, huddling closer to the Professor. He didn't respond for a while. Then he took off his headphones and stared at the device.

"Can you hear something?" The Doctor asked hopefully.

"Yes, the transmission is just about clear enough to hear." The Professor said, his voice sounding slightly lost.

He removed the headphones from the device and sat it down on the desk. After twisting a few more wires, he clasped his hands and stared off into the distance. The Doctor and Amy could only hear the familiar sound of static at first before:

_"Please, just go."_ Came a male voice, just about audible above background noise. There was a muffled response. Then:

_"Doctor, just go."_ The voice said again, sounding defeated but defiant. Amy immediately looked up to the Doctor whose face was stern.

_"Amy, come on!"_ The voice of the Doctor sounded out, recognisable to everyone in the room. Amy's eyes opened wide, aghast at the sound of her name.

_"No! Doctor I can't, I...Doctor...Doctor!"_ Amy's voice cried out. There was a series of loud bangs and crashes before Amy's petrified scream filled the room. Then static. Then nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone in the room was silent. Amy stared at the receiver. The Doctor looked out to the distance. The Professor had a hand to his head, scratching his temple in thought.

"I don't understand...you two were on the planet when it was destroyed? But, that was over a thousand years ago that's not...and how did you..." He looked at the two, but neither responded. "Please will one of you explain?" He said, his voice stern but not severe.

"I don't know myself." Amy said slightly under her breath.

"Professor, we're time travellers. It's safe to assume that's in our future; we haven't lived it yet. We have about as much idea of what it means as you do, but..." The Doctor attempted to explain before sighing heavily.

"You're what? Time travel? That's just stupid, you...you're time travellers?" The Professor tried to wrap his head around the idea. There was silence in the room again.

"Doctor. Do we... do we destroy the Earth?" Amy looked up to him. He saw the young, frightened Amelia in her eyes once more. But he could do nothing to comfort her. He mustered a shrug.

"I've got to tell the Captain, I've got to tell someone." The Professor suddenly got up. Amy's eyes flashed with concern, but the Doctor let him go. Just as he reached the door, a crew member raced in.

"Doctor, you're needed on the main deck." He said, out of breath slightly.

The Doctor, Amy and the Professor raced up to the main deck behind the crew member. As they exited the lift, they were faced with what they had all feared; numerous gaping holes in the flooring, walls half devoured and wires hanging down from the ceiling, still sparking with electricity. The Professor bowed his head in despair.

"Doctor, at last." The Captain made his way towards them, stepping over holes and underneath exposed wires as best he could. "As you can see, the nanobytes attacked again. Looks like we didn't get the last of them, not by a long shot. Here," He handed the Doctor and Amy two spray canisters. "These contain Empesium; if you see any of those things, knock them out."

Amy and the Doctor nodded. Amy jogged through an open door and the Professor went through to the control room. The Captain held the Doctor back.

"Doctor, why now, why the one time I have to prove myself? Why does it happen to me?" The Captain seemed teary eyed, but maintained a strong gaze. The Doctor touched the Captain's arm.

"Because you weren't meant to go down in history as the man to pilot this ship on a historic expedition; you were meant to be the one to pilot the ship, **and** save the lives of every single person on board. A true hero." The Doctor said, smiling. The Captain seemed taken aback, but empowered by this speech.

"I need two crew split between rooms A-3 and A-6, and two more in B-2. We need to stop these things getting anywhere near our power source." He shouted out. His troops rallied around him. "Thank you." He said to the Doctor, before going back to the control room. The Doctor took in the chaos around him for a moment; destruction had caught up with him once again.

There was a loud crash behind the Doctor, and he jogged down the corridor to a room marked A-6. Inside he found a cabin boy lodged under a fallen strip light. The light was around 8ft long, made out of a clearly heavy steel, and had fallen horizontally across the cabin boy's middle- he was clearly struggling to get up. He saw the Doctor come in an instantly pointing up to the top of the left hand wall. The Doctor looked over to see the whole thing was slowly eroding away; the nanobytes had made their way across the ceiling and down the side, exposing pipes and even sometimes eating straight through to the other room. The Doctor took out his sonic and flicked a few switches. It glowed and pulsated out a rhythmic sound. The erosion stopped, as the Doctor seemingly guided the invisible nanobytes down to head height. He then took out his spray canister and doused the area thoroughly. Checking to see if any were left, he switched off his sonic screwdriver and held the canister ready, but all seemed to have been destroyed. The Doctor breathed out, before crouching down and using his body weight to move the strip light from the cabin boy. After a few seconds the cabin boy wriggled out and carefully stood up.

"Everything seem to be working?" The Doctor asked, looking the boy up and down.

"Yea I think s-" The cabin boy didn't have time to finish his sentence before the recognisable scream of Amy Pong rang out.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor left the cabin boy and sprinted down the corridor, into an area next to the control room. The room itself was fairly sizeable, housing several wall mounted fans and beeping mechanisms, with a window looking outwards on the left hand wall. However, the Doctor didn't have time to admire the intricacy of the ship, as he immediately saw Amy dangling from a hole in the floor. The nanobytes had managed to eat half of the room, and had now tunnelled their way down to the area below. The drop was a good fifteen feet, and pieces of scrap metal and dust from the ceiling were falling around Amy as she dug her nails into the corrugated flooring. She looked up as the Doctor entered, not saying a word, but her eyes drowned in tears.

"Hang on." The Doctor shouted above the bangs and crashes of electric and machinery around them. He bent down and grabbed onto her arm with both his hands. She tentatively did the same, placing a hand around his arm, but leaving the other dug into the floor. The struggle was evident in the Doctor's face, and Amy seriously doubted there was a way for him to pull her up.

"Amy," He called down. "Is there anything you can push yourself up on? Are your legs near anything?"

"No...there's nothing I'm...I'm dangling in the middle of the room. Doctor...please..." She trailed off, feeling pleading was superfluous.

Amy felt her grip slipping ever more away, not helped but her sweating palms. She felt her whole body descend slightly more, and so let out a whimper. She couldn't hold on to the floor with her one hand any longer, and so let it go, her body swinging slightly at the change of weight.

"Amy, hang on, please just hang on." The Doctor said, his voice grief-stricken.

"Doctor." Amy responded, her eyes streaming. She closed them, and felt her grip slip even more. With one last effort she swung her empty hand back up, and felt an ice cold grip grab her. Her natural reaction was to immediately retract her hand, but her body was in enough stress to just let things proceed.

"After three," Came a voice. "One...two...three."

Amy felt her whole body gradually move upwards. The crashes around her continued, but she suddenly felt somewhat safe. When he face met with a cold metal floor she dared to open her eyes and look up. She saw the relieved faces of the Doctor and James.

"James!" She said, slightly exhausted. "Thank you."

"No need. Doctor, the nanobytes have breached the first floor; if they keep on they could end up in the engine room. The Captain's in a bad way, I think he needs your guidance." James said.

"OK. But, just give us a moment." The Doctor said, looking down at Amy who was still in shock.

"Sure. I'll tell him you'll be through in a couple of minutes." James left the room, electrical explosions audible as the door opened.

The Doctor helped Amy to her feet and the two embraced, the Doctor looking over her shoulder and down the hole she was just hanging in.

"You had me worried, Pond." He said quietly.

"As much as I love travelling with you, I'm not so keen on these parts; the near-death bits." She said, smiling and wiping the tears from her cheek. He uncurled his arms from around her and put his hands of her shoulders, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Travelling on a half-destroyed spaceship above a planet; all in a day's work for you nowadays, isn't it?"

She smirked but her face soon dropped.

"Is there any way to cheat it, Doctor? I mean, I know time can be rewritten- we can stop Earth being destroyed right?"

The Doctor looked away for a second, out of the window on the left side of the room. The Earth was much more visible now; it's bleak and lifeless state even more evident. "I don't know. Time is such a...uncontrollable, wild thing that the minute you try and predict what's about to happen, it slaps you in the face."

"But it's my planet, Doctor. I don't want to be its destroyer. How could I..." She drifted off when she realised who she was talking to. The Doctor's face was suddenly dark and sullen. He let go of her shoulders and left the room. Amy looked around; first down the hole that had almost killed her, then through the window to the planet she was destined to kill. Her eyes welled up once more.


	10. Chapter 10

Amy stared in disbelief as she left the room. The corridor outside was half eroded; people were running frantically from room to room, despair heavy on their face; the sheer noise of it all was deafening. She couldn't take it all in. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and entered the control room. The Doctor, James and the Captain were manning the controls, looking inconceivably level-headed.

"They've breached R-7." The Captain said, looking down at his radar.

"How long 'til they reach the engine room?" The Doctor asked, pulling down on a lever.

"Not long at all. I sent some crew to try and stem them off but they seem to be wildly multiplying. It's too late Doctor."

The Doctor stopped and looked out of the window. He sighed heavily. "Then it's your duty to get everyone off this ship. Escape pods on the first floor, right?"

"Yes. Of course; I guess it's our only option." The Captain jogged out of the room. He gave Amy a wary smile as she stood out of his way. He stopped at the exit and turned around. "But Doctor; please make sure you get on one yourself. Don't risk your life trying to save this ship. I'll come back here once everyone has left, and I won't leave until you do."

The Doctor gave a proud nod and continued with his button presses as the Captain ran out to the corridor.

"Doctor, is there anything I can do?" Amy asked, walking slowly up to him.

"No, not really, sorry." The Doctor responded, barely making note of her presence.

"Doctor...what I said before I-"

"Amy it's fine; I understand." He looked up to her and gave her a forgiving smile.

There was a loud crash and the whole ship shook. The Doctor, Amy and James were thrown to the right side of the room. The lights went out, and the room was only illuminated by the Sun outside and the sparking wires from above.

"Is everyone alright?" The Doctor asked, looking around himself. Amy and James replied, and the Doctor went to get up. "They've taken down the engine room." He said stoically, looking at the map on the control panel.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, pointing across to the other side of the room. He looked around to see the left side of the control panel was being erratically eroded down, the nanobytes heading straight to where they had fallen.

"No, no!" The Doctor cried, but within a flash the nanobytes had reached them. The Doctor and Amy both drew out their canisters of Empesium and sprayed the remaining piece of control panel. The trail of erosion left by the nanobytes seemed to descend to the floor before petering out.

James let out a ferocious cry of pain. He held up his arm, which had now been eaten away down to just below his wrist. Metallic bone was visible. Amy stared in horror.

"James, what's happened? You're...you're a robot?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"No, no, everyone from Doridia is born with bone and skin made of metal. We're no different from you, just slightly more...robust." He let out a slight laugh, but was clearly in obvious pain.

"You're from Doridia? Why didn't anyone mention this; you should be as far away from this ship as possible." The Doctor said, clearly aghast. He took out a towel from his jacket pocket, sprayed it with Empesium, and wrapped it around James' arm.

"I needed the work." James said solemnly.

"Well, we all need to go now. If they've taken down the engines this whole thing is about to crash." Amy said, standing up.

"I think I'll just stay." James said, allowing Amy to help him to his feet. He moved past them, clutching his damaged arm to his front, and began jamming on the controls.

"Don't be stupid James, we can't leave you," Amy said. "C'mon, we're going."

James slowly moved across to the middle control section and held a button labelled 'S.O.S.' down for three seconds.

"_Please record your message."_ Came an automated voice.

"Please, just go." James said again, not looking at either of them. Amy looked at the Doctor, tears in her eyes once more. The Doctor slowly walked up to James and put an arm around him.

"Doctor, just go." James repeated, his voice much more stern. The Doctor sighed and slowly walked away, towards the door. There was a crash towards the left hand side of the room and several pieces of equipment seemed to continuously pop and bang. Amy instinctively ran over to James and tried to pull him away from the controls.

"Amy, come on!" The Doctor yelled, looking at the explosions before beckoning for her to come with him.

"No! Doctor I can't, I..." Amy's said in utter despair and desperation. And to her absolute shock, the Doctor simply ran out of the room. "Doctor...Doctor!" She yelled.

There were several more explosions, and Amy looked up at the sound of creaking from above. Part of the metallic ceiling was falling away from where it was once held, and gravity pulled it rapidly down in her direction. Amy let out a scream as the ship plummeted down to Earth.

...

TO BE CONTINUED

IN

'The Destruction of Man'


End file.
